Communion cup washing apparatus



Feb. 7, 1961 e. B. LACY EI'AL 2,970,700

COMMUNION CUP WASHING APPARATUS Filed May 1. 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 444/ 3 I 7 I INVENTORS.

H I 2 BY 38 I A waver Feb. 7, 1961 G. B. LACY ETAL COMMUNION cup WASHINGAPPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1. 1958 a s r fl m me. x M flm 3 #4e United States, Patent COMMUNION CUP WASHING APPARATUS Glenn B. Lacy,5661 Grandview Drive, and Deloris B. Holt, 340 S. Downey Ave., both ofIndianapolis, Ind.

Filed May 1, 1958, Ser. No. 732,282

4 Claims. Cl. 211-74) This invention relates generally to an apparatusutilized in the washing of a positionally arranged series of smallarticles, such as communion cups, and in particular to an apparatus ofthis type which permits washing of the cups without disturbing theirrelative positions and without requiring handling of the cups.

Communion cups, utilized in certain forms of Christian church serives,are conventionally formed as small cups and made of glass or transparentplastic. The cups are symmetrically formed and are provided at theirbase with an axially extending boss or protrussion. In use, the cups aresupported on a suitable tray having apertures therein receiving theprotrusions on the cups and thereby holding them against sliding fromthe tray but-- permitting them to be freely lifted, individually,from'the tray. The arrangement of the apertures in the tray, andtherefore the arrangement of the cups thereon, may have various symbolicor decorative configurations. Since the cups must be washed and rinsedafter use, it is desirable to provide a means whereby the cups may beremoved, en masse, from the tray, moved through a washing and rinsingsolution, and replaced on the tray without handling and withoutdisturbing their relative positional relation.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to turned to thetray without disturbing the relative posi-.

tional relation of the cups as required for proper mounting on the tray.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus ofthe type referred to above which permits the washing operation to bemanually performed in a conventional fashion or which may be utilized inconjunction with an automatic dishwasher of conventional type.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus ofthe type referred to above wherein certain portions of the apparatus maybe utilized for storing the cups in positionally arranged relation andready for subsequent use.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tray provided with a portion of itscomplement of communion cups. 7

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the transfer plate.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the transfer plate andholding plate in assembled relation.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the transfer plate, holding plate andthe cups in assembled relation.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the transfer plate utilized in a modifiedform of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a holding plate utilized in a modified formof the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of the modified form of thepresent invention in assembled relation.

Referring initially to Fig. 1, there is shown generally at 10 a circulartray carrying a plate 11 adjacent its upper margin. The plate 11 isprovided with several series of circularly arranged apertures 12. Aswill be evident from Fig. 1, each of the apertures is adapted toaccommodate a communion cup as indicated at 13. The detail of the cupsis shown in Fig. 3, wherein it will be noted that they are provided withan extending base portion in the form of a circular boss 14. Theapertures in the tray are sized so that they receive this base portionof the cups, which are thereby restrained from sliding out of positionon the tray.

After the cups have fulfilled their function in a church service and arereplaced on the tray, they may be removed therefrom by means of atransfer plate now to be described. The transfer plate is indicated at16 in Fig. 2 and is formed of a relatively thin sheet metal such asaluminum. The transfer plate is stamped so as to have formed thereinvarious circumferential and radial stiffening ribs 17, and is furtherprovided with a plurality of series of circularly arranged apertures 18,the apertures being arranged so as to correspond to the arrangement ofthe apertures in the tray 10. Each of the apertures in the transferplate is provided with an inwardly dished margin 19.

The transfer plate is utilized to remove the cups from the tray byplacing it in overlying relation thereto with the margin 19 of each ofits apertures extending into the open ends of the cups as shown inFig. 3(the cups and the transfer plate 16 there appearing, however, ininverted position). The transfer plate and tray may then be grasped as aunit and inverted. Subsequent removal of the tray then leaves the cupsdeposited in inverted position upon the transfer plate. The cups areretained on the transfer plate disposed in the same relative positionalrelation as on the tray and are not handled during this operation.

The assembly is completed by utilizing a holding plate 21, shown in Fig.3. The holding plate may be identical in configuration to the transferplate previously described,

and is provided with apertures 22 bounded by dishedmargins 23. As may beseen in Fig. 3, the holding plate is positioned in overlying relation tothe transfer plate,

the apertures 22 being sized to accommodate the lower- I plate inrelation to the transfer plate with the cups therebetween. This holdingmeans takes the form of a shaft 24 extending through central, alignedopenings 26 and 27 in the holding plate and transfer plate,respectively. As may best be seen in Fig. 2, the openings 26 and 27 areeach provided with elongated indentations 28 and, at right anglesthereto elongated slots 29.

The slots 29 permit the passage therethrough of a pin 31 mountedtransversely on the shaft 24. The shaft, at one of its ends, protrudessubstantially beyond the plane of the plates and carries a secondtransverse pin 32.

The pin 32 serves to seat a compression spring 33 which surrounds theshaft and bears against the holding plate 21. From the foregoing it willbe evident that the shaft I may be inserted through the openings 26 and27 and then retained in place by rotating the shaft to seat the pin 31in the indentations 28. When thus assembled,

the spring 33 is under compression and urges the plates,

against the cups.

The plates and cups areshown assembled in Fig. 4, and it will be evidenttherefrom that the protruding pornon of the shaft 24 may serve as ahandle whereby the 3 assembly may be immersed and agitated within asuitable washing solution and then rinsed. It will be further evidentthat this process requires no handling of the cups and that theirpositional relation is maintained.

To return the .cups to the tray, the shaft24is removed and subsequentlythe holding tray 21-is removed from washing compartment of aconventional automatic dishwasher. if the cups are to be stored, theassembly shown in Fig. 4 provides a convenient means for stowing thecups in inverted position, so as not to collect dust on their interiorsurfaces. When so stored the cups are retained in proper relativeposition for accommodation on the tray when they are to be used.

A modified form of the present invention is shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7.The plates which are components of this form of the invention areadapted for use with a tray (not shown) which has cup receivingapertures thereon arranged in a quadrilateral or diamond shapedconfiguration. The transfer plate 36 may be generally rectangular inconfiguration with apertures 37 of reduced size symmetrically arrangedtherein. As may best be seen in Fig. 7, each of the apertures 37 hasadjacent thereto radially extending, elongated humps or protrusions 38.Symmetrically arranged adjacent the apertures are upstanding tongues 39struck from the plate.

As previously described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the cups maybe removed from the tray by positioning the transfer plate 36 inoverlying relation thereto with the tongues 39 extending from thetransfer plate serving to extend between the outer surfaces of adjacentcups. The tray and transfer plate may then be inverted and the trayremoved, leaving the cups in inverted posi tion upon the transfer plate.

A holding plate 41 shown in Fig. 6 has apertures 42 therein arranged toconform to the positionalarrangement of the apertures 37 in the transferplate. The holding plate is provided with cylindrical spacers 43depending from opposite corners thereof, the central openings in two ofthe spacers 43 being adapted to receive screws (not shown) havingsuitably knurled heads thereon whichare turned into the diagonallyopposite, threaded openings 44 in the transfer plate 36.

As may be seen in Fig. 7, holding plate 41 may be placed in overlyingrelation to the transfer plate 36 with the extendingbase portion of thecups: received within the apertures 42. The two plates may then beclamped together by the knurled screws previously referred to, thespacers 43 being sized so as to limit the compressive force which may beexerted on the cups When so assembled the plates may be grasped at theircorners and'immersed in suitable washing and rinsing solutions. It willbe noted that liquid will be admitted to the interior of the cups whenthe assembly is immersed through the apertures 37 in the transfer plateand, since the cups rest upon the protrusions 38, liquid will also beadmitted to the cups adjacent their outer rim.

The cups may be returned to the tray in the same fashion as describedwith reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3. That is, the holding plate may beremoved and replaced by the tray in inverted position. The trayandtransfer plate may then be returned as a unit to. upright position.subsequent removal of the transfer plate will leave the cups in properrelation on the tray. I

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail inthe drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modificationsmay readilysuggfist themselves to persons skilled in this art andwithin.the;

'relative positional relation thereof and without requiring handling ofthe cups, said means comprising a transfer plate having aperturestherein adapted to register with said tray apertures, elements on saidtransfer plate adapted to extend into the open ends of said cups wherebysaid -transfer plate may be placed in overlying relation to said trayand said'tray and plate inverted to deposit said cups on said transferplate, a holding plate having apertures therein sized to accommodate thebase portion of said cups and registering with said transfer plateapertures, and-means for removably clamping said holding plate inoverlying relation to said transfer plate with said cups disposedtherebetween, said means comprising a shaft extending through alignedopenings in said plates" and protruding substantially beyond the planethereof,

-a resilient means carried on said shaft and acting against one of saidplates to retain said cups and plates in assembled relation, theprotruding portion of said shaft providing a handlewhereby the assemblyformed by said cups and plates may be immersed in a washing solution orotherwise processed without requiring handling of said cups.-

2. An apparatus for washing communion cups or the like adapted to beusedwith a tray having positionally. arranged apertures therein forreceiving the base portion of the cups, said apparatus comprising meansfor removing the cups from said tray without altering the relativepositional relation thereof and without requiring handling of the cups,said means comprising a transfer plate having apertures therein adaptedto register with said tray apertures, elements on said transfer plateadapted to extend into the open ends of said cups whereby said transferplate may be placed in overlying relation to said tray and said tray andplate inverted to deposit said cups on said transfer plate, a holdingplate having apertures therein sized to accommodate the base portion ofsaid cups and registering with said transfer plate apertures, and meansfor removably clamping said holding plate in overlying relation to saidtransfer plate with said cups disposed therebetween whereby the assemblyformed by said cups and plates may be immersed in a washing solution orotherwise processed without requiring handling of said cups.

3. An apparatus for washing communion cups or the like. adapted to beused with a tray having positionally arranged apertures therein forreceiving the base portion of the cups, said apparatus comprising atransfer plate having apertures therein adapted to register with saidtray apertures, elements on said transfer plate adapted to abut saidcups and maintain their spacing whereby said transfer plate may beplaced in overlying relation to said tray and said tray and plateinverted to deposit said cups on said transfer plate, a holding platehaving apertures therein sized to accommodate the base pot-- tion ofsaid cups and registering with said transfer plate apertures, and meansfor removably clamping said holding plate in overlying relation to saidtransfer plate with said cups disposed therebetween, said meansincluding spacers extending between said plates for limiting thecompressive stresses placed on the cups, the assembly formed by saidcups and plates being thereby immersible in washing and rinsingsolutions without requiring handling of said cups.

4. An apparatus for washing communion cups or the like adapted to beused, with a tray having positionally arranged apertures. therein forreceiving the base portion of the cups, said apparatusjcompri ing atransfer plate havefi ing apertures therein adapted to register withsaid tray apertures, elements on said transfer plate adapted to abutsaid cups and maintain their spacing whereby said transfer plate may beplaced in overlying relation to said tray and said tray and plateinverted to deposit said cups on said transfer plate, a holding platehaving apertures therein sized to accommodate the base portion of saidcups and registering with said transfer plate apertures, and means forremovably clamping said'holding plate in overlying relation to saidtransfer plate with said cups disposed therebetween whereby the assemblyformed by .said cups and plates may be immersed in a washing solu=References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,726,771 Cozzoli Dec. 13, 1955 2,741,392 Weiss Apr. 10, 1956 2,851,154Dingeldein Sept. 9, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 75,730 Denmark Apr. 7, 1956

